Packing Meat

[35 Whelen]

Here is something every guide in Alaska was very firmilar with years gone by for TWO darn good reasons ??
This is the 1944 US Army issue " plywood packboard" ( It replaced the Mountain division " Yukon Packboard" They were used almost exclusively as the rear seat backrest, in about every guides Super Cub I ever flew. That way you always had your packboard with you, these are still the best and easiest way I know of to quickly get a quarter of meat, or head and horns loaded and get on your way! In today's world folks are using framed tubular packs, and usually trying to fit meat into
The "bag" part of pack. With these older ones if you look at the outside edges you will notice there are 8 rugged hooks opposing each other. With 4/5' of parachute cord you simply lay the board down
Slap a quarter of Caribou, Deer, Sheep etc onto of it and starting at bottom hook, just zigzag up and across each time same as lacing up your boots, once lashed down this way, warm meat or hides don't keep shifting and moving like they will any other way! From a sitting position it works like a bipod in an upright position, if your firing at a sheep or goat across and above you and your laying
Down, it works fine horizontally as a front rest. You can fold a 9' Brown Bear up and fit it on this frame and lash it right down! ( Try that with a modern pack with a bag on it)
I used to lash my rifle to it a lot when I needed both paws free, and lots of time when I was climbing
We lashed our jacket onto it until we got uptop then poped it back on. I used to set it on top of rocks
And use it as a table to sit out the sandwiches, chips , cookies on at lunchtime. The Army even made
A little plywood shelf that hooks to the bottom to sit a 5 gal GI can of gas right on this packboard !!
Next to my rifle and matches & Compass I considered one of these just everyday hunting gear and a lot of B&C animals wound up finding their way onto mine over the years! It rode many thousands of miles with me, in dozens of different Cubs as my rear seat backrest, all over Alaska's very finest hunting grounds. Lots of us also stole the canvas bag of a "trapper nelson" and simply pined it onto this pack when you need to carry a spotting scope, raingear etc. And used them as a conventional pack. Clients often asked, as you are about to start up the mountain, "if you mind carrying most of their stuff"; :shock: And it was pretty common request, from the well healed crowd, on the way down off the mountain; if you would " mind carrying their rifle " ....... :x They often times consider the guide
more as a sherpa, or human mule than as a skilled woodsman that is the only hope on earth: Of them, ever securing
the trophy animal they are seeking , to brag about at the next black tie event, they are attending.
If your not firmilar with this packboard, and you hunt the backcountry, you might want to get firmilar with one ! 55"Moose above Whitefish Lk, about ready to
Be lashed on my packboard! And late fall Grizzly 8'6" still on the packboard, And my old faithful Piper PA-12 "Super Cruiser" sitting in the Onoko River behind me, circa 1992 ish
Of course my favorite way to "pack horns" has always been this way!!! :lol:
See the Attlee Dodge Reverseable landing gear leg taped to the wing strut? We were landing in such
Ruff stuff it was common to bend a gear leg, so we used to carry a spare all the time.

 

[6mm Remington]

I sure love those old pictures!

 

[Guy Miner]

Cool!

Looks like a real useful pack board!

Guy

 

[sask boy]

Earle those are some cool photographs :wink:. Those older packs must have been hard on the shoulders!

Blessings,
Dan

 

[35 Whelen]

Well Dan,
A lot of us replaced the straps, with modern padded ones, but ALL packs are bad with a 9 ft Brown Bear hide / head included, strapped onto it !!!! Feels like the straps are going right down to the bone!
We had guides that were so rugged we would put a forward quarter from a big bull moose onto one of these
Packboards ( around 175 lbs) and they could go with it....... talk about tough!
E
Ps here is my packboard with modified straps! And my old Sako 375 H&H that saved my life,
More than a few times! This was on a Grizzly hunt in the Buckstock Mts , south of Aniak.

 

[SJB358]

I have used the Freighter frames that Bill has a bunch of, my Cabelas Mountain Pack and just this past year I got a Mystery Ranch Marshall. Let me tell you, finding and using that pack for hunting is just about like finding the Holy Grail. It is amazing. This year I packed out a rear quarter of a decent bull elk and the entire head out of a miserable 1500 FT descent and a 6-7 mile hike out. It was heavy, but man those packs are worth every single darned penny.

I don’t have a picture of the rear with horns on the pack but I have carried a couple heavy loads and I’d bet I had all of 100lbs and I’d probably guess it went heavier but that pack stuck to me like glue. Plus, I can cinch it down and hunt with it all day.



E, I really dig those old pictures!

 

[35 Whelen]

Scotty here is a couple of shots of me packing em out, first as a punk kid, circa 1978, down on the Alaska peninsula back when there were thousands to pick from. Packing a decent Caribou on a pipe frame tied on 'INCorrectly', like you see in magazines and books all the time. the weight is way too high, it will fight
you constantly mounted this way. :?
Here I am about 10 years later, and many dozens of Caribou later, packing another nice Book Caribou, "horns and a hind quarter " this Time however, it is mounted correctly, tops down, on the packframe, you could much easier, with it tied this way :wink:

 

[AFG270]

Cool pictures Earle and Scotty. Reminds me of why I started hunting and packing on horseback at a young age.

 

[SJB358]

Great pics E. People ask about what makes nice packing, my response is NOTHING makes packing easy other than taking the danged thing off at the end of the trail :mrgreen:

 

[Elkman]

I still have two of the plywood pack frames. In the 70's I overloaded one and broke it long wise. They were not comfortable in any stretch of the imagination. We also used them on the fire line to carry portable pumps, back off of roads. I switched to a Camp Trails "Freighter", external frame pack probably sometime in the early 80's. Then later when they came out with a newer version upgraded again. I still have one or two of the early ones. I packed my first elk out in the 61, how I don't remember, and my last pack out, with help was in Wyoming and Oregon in 16. My small group of family and friends have packed out an awful lot of elk on our backs. As a footnote, Scotty can carry more in one load than anyone I have hunted with.

 

[35 Whelen]

Elk man,
Wow I have NEVER seen one broken! Your right about the comfort, we always used to buy modern shoulder straps and waist belts from REI and modify them! And as far as Scotty is consirned I would love to have gotten ahold of him back when he was younger and tryed him on some of those Alaskan Bull Moose quarters , it took a hell of a rugged man to pack a front shoulder, as 175 lbs was common off a big one, but he looks like he may have been up to it !
PS
Please slip those two old plywood packs in your will to ME, I promise NOT to break either one!
I am pretty sure everyone that has looked this post over thinks the newer designs would be way ahead of these old boards, well that probably is NOT true as there really is no better way to secure
Warm meat so it won't move than lashing it tightly with parachute cord! However here is the old GI packboard with a slight upgrade, this is the Molle II waist belt and shoulder harness with all the QD
Attach points, now this is the best of both worlds! Dirt cheap at surplus store, very high quality .This combo will rival packs costing $3/400 for comfort and adjustment,
but have the advantage of being able to load it in a fraction of the time, plus you wont need to retighten a dozen times on your way to camp!